University Degree Courses Research Articles

The Experiences of University Students who Stutter: A Quantitative and Qualitative Study

Traversing the undulating experience of a university degree can be an emotional journey for many students. But imagine the same journey for a student who has to contend with the uncertainty that a stutter gives to the ability to effectively communicate. There has been little research focus on the school experiences of children and teenagers who stutter, but there has been even less on the experiences of university students who stutter. The aim of this study wasto give a voice to people who stutter who have engaged with the Australian Higher Education system so that their experiences and views can be shared. It is hoped that this study will (1)prompt university students who stutter to be more proactive in accessing and asking for assistance when required and (2) educate university staff about how to better facilitate learning for these students. During 2009 a 58 question online survey was made available to Australian people who stutter aged 18 or older who had enrolled in a university degree course within the past 10 years. The survey was advertised via Australian stuttering-related Facebook groups, online stuttering forums and to eligible members of both the Australian Speak Easy Association and the McGuire Programme (Australia). Overall 102 full and valid responses were recorded during a five month period. The questions used were a mixture of scaled, open and closed ended types. Results were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Initially from a surface level view of the results of this study were encouraging and also surprising. Stuttering had only influenced 14 of the 102 surveyed students in terms of their degree choices and many of these choices prepared them for roles requiring strong communication skills. Amongst all the respondents only one had dropped out of university up to that point in time because of stuttering-related problems and of the 90 who had successfully graduated only 11 of them had admitted that stuttering was an influence on their post-graduate career choice. But once the data was investigated more thoroughly it was found that underneath all the academic success were stories of dissatisfaction and lost opportunities in terms of social interactions, academic engagement and at times also grade results. Some students had purposefully underperformed and avoided communicating with university teachers and peers in order to avoid the stress of stuttering. Also very few students had accessed any disability support service that their university had on offer. Those students who had accessed support services found the experience to be confusing, with many different steps and lack of flexibility.This study indicates that Australian universities need to be better informed about stuttering and more flexible in terms of offering support for students who stutter. However, students also need to be better informed in terms of the benefits of accessing support provision. There is a need to further explore the reasons and repercussions of student interactions with universities in order to fully educate all parties involved and enable a more constructive educational experience for tertiary students who stutter.

Investigating the Role of Physical Education in Physical Activity Promotion: An Italian Multicenter Study.

Physical education (PE) can be considered an instrument for active lifestyle promotion, and PE teachers can motivate youths to continue their studies in the field of Movement Sciences (MS). To evaluate the role of PE in higher secondary school in promoting physical activity (PA) and MS careers, previous PE experiences and current PA practice were investigated in a sample of Italian freshmen enrolled in different university degree courses. A total of 7033 questionnaires were completed by students from 14 universities (41.3% males, mean age 20 ± 2.76 years). Recreation seemed to be the principal aim (42.2%) pursued during PE lessons, which are based mainly on practical activities (51.7%). Of all respondents, 67.2% were satisfied with the PE received during higher secondary school, and 51.6% participated in extracurricular PA. Current practice of PA was reported by 58.1% of the sample. Extracurricular activities were associated with choice of MS curricula (odds ratio: 2.15; 95% confidence interval, 1.85-2.50) and with current practice of PA (odds ratio: 1.68, 95% confidence interval, 1.51-1.87). Geographical differences concerning lessons organization and satisfaction were registered (P < .01). To enhance its role in health promotion, PE teaching should be improved by increasing the time allocated to PE and by strengthening the provision of school-based extracurricular PA.

Not all new nurses are ready to practice, survey suggests

Proportions of university degree courses allocated to learning disability teaching vary widely across UK

Plan de estudios universitarios en medicina geriátrica desarrollado utilizando una técnica internacional Delphi modificada

IntroductionThe increase in the number of frail elderly people has led to the necessity that all doctors of the future acquire sufficient knowledge on human ageing and the skills in the management of the patient of advanced age, as well as the diseases associated with ageing. Few countries offer geriatric medicine within undergraduate training. The purpose of the present project was to obtain a consensus between European geriatricians on the minimum requirements that medical students must achieve at the end of their university degree course. Material and methodsA modified Delphi process was used. Firstly, experts in education and geriatrics proposed a set of learning objectives based on a review of the literature. Three Delphi rounds were then performed, in which a panel of 49 experts representing 29 countries affiliated to the European Union of Medical Specialists took part. This enabled them to reach a consensus on a definitive study plan. ResultsThe number of disagreements after the Delphi rounds 1 and 2 were 81 and 53, respectively. Full agreement was reached after the third round. The definitive study plan consisted of detailed objectives grouped under 10 general training objectives. ConclusionsA consensus has been reached between European geriatricians that sets specific training objectives for medical students. Great efforts will be required for the introduction of these requirements, given the variability there is in the quality of teaching in geriatrics. This study plan is a first step in helping to improve geriatrics teaching in faculties of medicine, and will also serve as a basis to make advances in the training in post-graduate geriatrics throughout Europe.

MiPoB: un programa de simulación para el aprendizaje en mejora genética animal

A simulation program has been developed to support the teaching of introductory courses in animal breeding. The program was conceived because the absence of this kind of educational tool aimed at students of first university degree courses, especially in Spanish language. The program simulates a closed animal population of small size in which students should take decisions of choice and mating of future parental. This facilitates the introduction of the basic concepts of selection and genetic evaluation, and also of conservation and population genetics. The program considers the particular case of beef cattle and a total of ten generations of selection can be simulated. Having been tested for two consecutive courses in university formal education, it is available for free use and distribution.

The Effects of Diagnosis on Learning Engineering Graphics and Design in a First Year University Degree Course in South Africa

The Effects of Diagnosis on Learning Engineering Graphics and Design in a First Year University Degree Course in South Africa

Student identity construction in online teacher education: a narrative life history approach

This paper explores student identity construction through the narrative life history of one non-traditional student, engaged in teacher education in a non-traditional way – a fully online university degree course. The students within this course are all mature-aged. Most are female, and have already developed personal identities as partners, friends and mothers, as well as professional identities such as teacher aides. Adding the new identity of “student” to these already established roles has an impact on these participants’ actions, beliefs, experiences and hence on their identities. Further, the notion that they are now “pre-service teachers” forces students to consider their professional identity in new and sometimes uncomfortable ways. This paper explores the challenges for one student created by the need to negotiate this complexity. Through this exploration using narrative life history methods, the paper considers the implications of the experience of becoming a student and a teacher.

Academic climate, well-being and academic performance in a university degree course

The psychological climate within organisations affects not only the behaviour and the attitude of group members, but also the performance of the group itself. According to the ecological model, this research examines how learning in different classroom contexts of the same nursing degree programme can affect academic performance, well-being, self-esteem and perceived climate. Four scales were used to assess students' perceptions by collecting primary data while academic performance was measured by obtaining students' academic records. A questionnaire completed by 391 first-year nursing students was administered. Differences were observed in the perceptions of climate and academic performance in different classroom contexts with trends, which did not always overlap; however, strong correlations were observed among self-esteem, well-being and climate, and schoolmate relationships. Universities should not merely train competent professionals but also build learning communities that support the well-being of relationships and the development of well-being contexts. The findings support the need for an educational intervention for improving the quality of life and well-being of the community and individual students. This type of intervention requires a 'compliant' organisational environment that puts studetns, teachers and professionals in the condition to practice their professional skills.

&lt;b&gt; O lugar da experiência, da cultura e da aprendizagem multimídia na formação de professores &lt;/b&gt;

http://dx.doi.org/10.5902/198464444864 Quais os desafios da formação de crianças, jovens e professores hoje? Falar de saberes e competências necessárias para o professor atuar nos cenários atuais implica perguntar em que medida a universidade, os cursos de licenciatura e os centros de formação docente estão se adequando às novas demandas da educação. Ao situar alguns desafios atuais da formação inicial em relação à cultura digital, o artigo enfatiza a importância da experiência, da formação cultural e da multimídia na formação de professores a partir de uma perspectiva culturalista de mídia-educação. Considerando que a mídia-educação é um campo em construção, a transversalidade e a contribuição multidisciplinar dos saberes das ciências, da educação, da comunicação e das artes constituem um “objeto-fronteira”, uma interface que pode interpretar melhor a transformação atual dos conhecimentos e das ferramentas da cultura digital que não se limitam à educação escolar. O texto discute a possibilidade da formação multimídia e suas competências como integração de saberes e contribuições metodológicas provindas de diferentes áreas do conhecimento e da perspectiva das múltiplas linguagens na escola e na cultura. Disso resulta a necessidade de configurar outros espaços para pensar a práxis educativa e formativa e discutir novas formas de mediação cultural nos cenários contemporâneos da formação de professores.

Fictions of the Studio

Fictions of the Studio

Beliefs and motivation to teaching in pre-service teachers A reasearch within the students of the pre-service university degree course for pre-school and primary school teaching in the University of Bologna

This survey is part in the research field that highlights the strong links between the renewal of schools and both pre-service and in-service teacher training. Italian research works show how teachers constantly try to maintain a balance between the reproduction of traditional models and innovation in implementing quality in schools. The international debate on Teacher Change points to two macro-variables that appear to be very important in promoting innovation in teaching practices: the individual path of each teacher and the organizational context of the school. This research aims to analyze the motivations for teaching and the beliefs on “good teachers” held by the students attending the pre-service University Degree Programme for Pre-school and Primary School Teaching at the University of Bologna, in order to understand the attitude of the new generation of teachers and obtain useful information for orienting their curriculum. In this research work, it has been hypothesized that motivations and beliefs may be correlated to other variables concerning previous personal and training paths. The survey is a descriptive research work involving a broad sample of students. A questionnaire was used, containing some previously validated attitude scales and many structured items on personal data and the characteristics of each student's training experiences. The survey was implemented in continuity with other previous research, making it possible to compare different groups of graduates who are currently working as teachers (novice teachers).© 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Easy grading practices and supply–demand factors: evidence from Italy

In this article, we investigate how heterogeneity in grading standards across university degree courses is related to supply and demand factors. Using a sample of almost 26,000 students enrolled at an Italian University, we document how grades vary significantly across degrees. After controlling for student characteristics, class-size, classmate quality and degree fixed effects, it emerges that students obtain better grades and are less likely to drop-out when their degree course experiences an excess of supply. We adopt an instrumental variable strategy to account for endogeneity problems and instrument the excess of supply using the total number of universities offering each degree course. Our two-stage least squares (TSLS) estimates confirm that the teaching staff on degree courses facing low demand tend to set lower academic standards with the result that their students obtain better grades and have a lower probability of dropping out than they might otherwise. Similar results are obtained using a control function approach.

Enhancing An Undergraduate Paramedic Degree through the Introduction of a Health Fact Sheet Assessment Task

Aims A component of the Council of Ambulance Authorities Inc. (Australia) guidelines is to facilitate the development of University degree courses which focus on the development of professional behaviour by incorporating educational programs that provide paramedic graduates with workplace skills that will be required for their future careers. Methods A health fact sheet assessment task was introduced to first year Bachelor of Health Sciences (Paramedic) students as a part of their curriculum in bioscience. The aims of the assessment task were to improve their understanding of basic anatomy and physiology, and to enhance essential workplace skills such as communicating scientific concepts to members of the general public (lay people). In addition to the task, a survey was distributed to determine the opinion of the students on the health fact sheet assessment task. Results The 166 students who completed the task achieved a high mean grade of 8.16 out of 10 (± 0.77). Fifty-two students completed the survey (31.32%), with most students strongly believing that learning to communicate more effectively to the general public was a useful skill and that the health fact sheet assessment task achieved this aim. Conclusion The health fact sheet assessment task was a valuable tool in an undergraduate paramedic curriculum, reinforcing skills that are relevant to an allied health career.

Provision of eye care: Commissioning change

Provision of eye care: Commissioning change

Reading and writing tasks on different university degree courses: what do the students say they do?

The aim of the study was to examine reading and writing tasks as learning tools in higher education in Spain. The participants were 171 undergraduates from three different university degree courses. The data were gathered through a questionnaire that explored the kind of tasks carried out by the students, their perception of different aspects of the tasks they perform, and the conditions in which they perform them. The article presents the most relevant differences found, taking into account the type of course being studied. The findings suggest that the most common tasks are still those aimed at knowledge reproduction. Nevertheless, students of history differ from students of psychology and biology in that they carry out some of the tasks requiring writing and discussing on the basis of reading multiple texts to a greater extent.

Final Project Teaching in Higher Education within Civil Engineering: New Perspective

Civil engineering education has undergone important changes and will undergo additional changes over the next few years Iza and Enzina 2004 because of the need to achieve—as stated in the Declarations of Sorbonne Sorbonne Joint Declaration 1998 and Bologna Bologna Joint Declaration 1999 —international homogeneity between university degree courses, which will thereby guarantee the mobility of professionals. Over the past few decades, many authors have pointed out the need to transform the teaching of civil engineering. Indeed, given that engineers’ curricular needs have varied considerably over the last thirty years, it no longer appears appropriate to enter classrooms that continue to function as they did in the 1970s Folder 1996; Rugarcia et al. 2000a . The recent changes have affected both the university and professional civil engineering environments in ways including the following Manoliu and Bugnariu 2001 : • The construction sector has become increasingly important to the economic situation of all countries. • The employment needs of civil engineers are evolving. On one hand, developing countries are seeking engineers to design large infrastructure projects. On the other hand, developed countries must attend to the increasing demand for maintenance and the implementation of public works, thus the concept of the construction engineer loses importance while the provision of services gains greater relevance. • The complexity of the projects that are undertaken makes teamwork essential. A need to coordinate and integrate professionals from a wide variety of backgrounds has emerged, and the quality of the end product to a large extent depends upon the management of these teams. • Environmental awareness has gained in importance, as evi-

The Management of a Multigenerational Nursing Team With Differing Qualifications

Retiring age is no longer fixed at 39 years of working service by Italian law, so nurses with more than 40 years of service continue to work in the wards, creating a distinct older generation. Moreover, with the closure of nursing colleges and the introduction of university degree courses for nurses, nursing education has changed significantly. This article reports on a study which explored the experiences of chief nurses in the daily management of nursing teams composed of multigenerational nurses who differed in age and qualifications. Husserls' phenomenologic approach was used, interviewing at length a purposeful sample of 10 chief nurses. Five main areas of concern emerged: (a) The generation gaps between peers and team leaders; (b) nomadism versus being settled; (c) conflicting methods of working which result in nothing being accomplished: managing the "flat paradox"; (d) different nursing values, ideals, and visions; and (e) existing generation gaps with the younger staff. The number of younger nurses will increase with time and, as a consequence, the relevance of intergenerational differences must be seriously debated, not only difficulties with age differences but also those relating to nursing education.

A History of the German Language through Texts by Christopher Young , Thomas Gloning (review)

270 Reviews 'cats', 'dogs' (both section 110), and 'doves' (section 171), should surely be recorded; as published, only equine varieties are accorded this privilege. It is also unfortunate that each entry begins with an upper-case letter, thereby eliminating the possibil? ity of an immediately obvious distinction between common and proper nouns; here, 'Casals' is a common noun (defined in n. 95). Finally, while the superscript numbers on each page of the text relate to the correct footnotes, many of the index refer? ences to footnote numbers are incorrect. To locate the intended notes, add one to the note numbers cited in the index forAmalric, Ayyubids, Baldwin I, Benedict, Casals, Chamberlain, Cyprus, Farms, Hattin, Julian, Khwarizmian Turks, La Forbie (last three references), Marguerite, Primitive Rule, Roussillon, Simon Mendes, Squires, Tortosa (Spain), Tripoli, Villel, Visitors, and to those under 'Masters, Grand' relat? ing to Thomas Berard (last two) and William of Sonnac (last one). 'Martin Sanchez' {sie), the 'Commander of Spain' in the index (references to sections 158, '159 n. 89' (here, conversely, subtract one to reach section 158 n. 88)), is in fact described by the Rule (and, at least momentarily, by its editor: pp. 66-67) as the 'Commander of Portugal'. Nor is the bibliography entirely consistent, with publisher but no place of publication given for some works (Hindley, p. 105; Seward, p. 108), while most have place but no publisher; the entryfora 'Catalan dictionary' (p. 105) cites neither editor nor publisher. The number of volumes is not cited for Muntaner (p. 104), nor for Deschamps (p. 106). In short: this historically important text now has an accessible edition, but does not yet have anything like its optimum supporting material. University of Bristol David Hook A History of the German Language through Texts. By Christopher Young and Thomas Gloning. London: Routledge. 2004. ?60. ISBN 0-415-18331-6. Teaching the history of German has become rare in the British Isles, and those col? leagues who wish to offerthis subject as a university degree course face two major problems. First, we must decide whether we want to teach the whole history of the language, from Old High German to the present day (as is done, for example, at Oxford, Cambridge, or Manchester), or only individual, recognized periods such as Middle High German (MHG) or Early New High German (ENHG), as at New? castle or Bristol. In general, MHG fares rather better than other stages since there are still a substantial number of literary scholars of that period who need to teach MHG language in order to enable their students to engage with original texts. The second major problem we historical linguists face is the choice of material, both primary and secondary literature. Given the range of other subjects our students study, the time they can devote to a unit or two on historical linguistics is limited and the decreasing presence of the field in other modern languages means that often students' exposure to the principles of linguistics and in particular historical lin? guistic analysis is rather isolated. Hence in establishing a curriculum for our units we need to strike a fine balance between a general knowledge about the history of German and actual analysis of real texts, unless we are prepared to return to the olden days where sound-changes were taught without any textual examples?and luckily we have moved away from that. However, while there are plenty of histories of German available in German (most recently: Wilhelm Schmidt's ninth edition of his Geschichte der deutschen Sprache (Stuttgart: Hirzel, 2004), and for the firsttime Peter Ernst's Deutsche Sprachgeschichte (Munich: UTB, 2004) and Gudrun Brundin's Kleine deutscheSprachgeschichte (Munich: UTB, 2004)), which all act as sensibly sized alternatives to Peter von Polenz's monumental Deutsche Sprachgeschichte in three vo? lumes (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1994-2000), there are none available in English. Rudi MLR, ioi.i, 2006 271 Keller's The German Language (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1978) and C. J. Wells's German: A Linguistic History to 1945 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985) are both out of print, and to the reviewer's knowledge there simply is no his? toryof German available in English. In addition, none ofthe aforementioned...

The Future of the Public University in America: Beyond the Crossroads (review)

Reviewed by: The Future of the Public University in America: Beyond the Crossroads Alan P. Wagner (bio) James J. Duderstadt and Farris W. Womack. The Future of the Public University in America: Beyond the Crossroads. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. 236 pp. Cloth: $34.36. ISBN: 0-8018-7218-9. Written by two experienced public research university leaders, this volume is a diagnosis of the difficulties public research universities face in addressing challenges of new demands for learning, eroded or redirected public funding, rising costs of instruction and research, and new accountability. The authors, in this first-person account "from the helm" of a leading public research university (the University of Michigan), reflect on their experiences with these challenges at the same time they look forward to a new position and functioning of the public research university. Through this volume, Duderstadt and Womack contribute to a continuing discourse on the changing roles, structure, governance, financing, and functioning of universities at a time when advanced-level learning comes very high on the policy agendas of federal, state, and local governments in the United States and around the world. Duderstadt and Womack take the view that we are "beyond the crossroads" of debate about whether change is needed. The present challenge is to "develop effective strategies to shape the evolution of public universities so that they will play key, albeit different, roles" (p. 3). They argue that what is needed is not "richer and more selective universities, but more institutions capable of providing quality educational opportunities for our citizens. We need to increase our flow of human capital, not refine it" (p. 44). They locate that growth as part of a natural, longer-term evolution of the U.S. public research university, as it has provided for widening outreach and expanded participation over the past 150 years. The authors argue that the public research university should continue to develop in ways that cater to new demands for learning and relearning over adult life (evaporating the distinction between student and alumni) and forge new partnerships and alliances with all manner of entities for delivering content and providing appropriate field-based learning experiences. Where others have called for a sharpening of profiles by type of institution, Duderstadt and Womack raise as one possible future an application of "the extraordinary intellectual resources of the public research university to assist the broader higher education enterprise in its evolution into forms better capable of serving the changing educational needs of a knowledge-driven society. . . . [by entering] into alliances with other types of educational institutions, or even newly emerging forms such as for-profit or cyberspace universities" (p. 194). This proposal opens up a much more nuanced and strategic view of the public university's future role, one that embraces a very wide range of partnerships, networks, and arrangements—public and private, domestic and cross-border—to best exploit and nourish the unique combinations of expertise and activity available at the public research university. Such a future already exists in some measure, and not just in the United States. Examples from elsewhere include the French pôle universitaire, a regional network of universities, government and [End Page 452] firms; the Swiss Lemanic project, leading to the coordination and profiling of three, separately governed and financed university-level institutions in the Lake Geneva region (Universities of Geneva and Lausanne, and the Federal Polytechnic Institute in Lausanne); Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology's offering of programs within Australia's Technical and Further Education (TAFE) system alongside RMIT university degree courses; and the ambitious vision of "Network Norway," giving students and institutions access to educational resources throughout the country. Prescriptions for reforms in university administration, governance, funding, and policy appear in many chapters, accompanied by first- person accounts of experiences with initiatives at the University of Michigan, among which are efforts to advance Michigan's "diversity and excellence" strategy, including elements of admissions practices at the heart of the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action. The prescriptions aim to sustain—indeed, encourage—greater staff initiatives in their primary activities of teaching and research. On this point, Duderstadt and Womack observe that "the most vibrant universities will...

Ariel.Net: la piattaforma per il CdL online in Sicurezza dei Sistemi e delle Reti Informatiche

The Ctu – eLearning Center of the University of Milan, in partnership with Isvor Knowledge System S.p.a., for the academic year 2004 – 2005, has delivered its first University Degree course in dual mode: this means it been presented both in F-2-F conventional classroom and as blended learning. It’s a 3 year Degree Course about digital security, entitled «Sicurezza dei sistemi e delle reti informatiche - SSRI online», Polo didattico e di ricerca di Crema, Web address: http://www.cdlonline.unimi.it. Ariel.Net, the software platform devoted to SSRI online represents the natural evolution of Ariel, the current platform for the Unimi eLearning, and has been planned and real ized by a Ctu team of instructional designers, developers and software engineers, taking into account the specific needs of a University Course. This paper focuses on how the design and didactic requirements of the SSRI online deeply influenced and shaped the software architecture and features of Ariel.Net.